ABSTRACT
The post-Cold War era has seen an evolution of new players in global politics—notably Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—which came to be known as the BRICS countries. This chapter focuses on relationships between the four BRICS countries minus South Africa on the one hand and the African countries including South Africa on the other. It positions African countries at the center of competition for resources between the BRICS countries on the one hand and the western European countries on the other and highlights disadvantages of the African countries in both situations. The chapter also acknowledges the difficulty in using the term African countries as an entity and of presenting the analysis of their economic development from a general perspective. The Soviet Union supported African states when many western countries, including the United States, were reluctant to extend moral support to freedom fighters towing to the socioeconomic and political relations they had with minority regimes in Africa.
